Woolf supports school choice, more support for law enforcement

Bill Woolf is running for the GOP nomination to represent the new Virginia Senate 30th District in western Prince William County.

Woolf has worked in the US. Department of Justice, where he served as the director of Human Trafficking programs and later acting director at the Office for Victims of Crime. He also served as a special advisor to the White House for human trafficking and child exploitation.

Woolf began his law enforcement career as a police officer in Northern Virginia and later became a detective, working on a task force with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. Woolfe has lived in Gainesville for 21 years, has been a husband for 22 years, and is a father of six children between the ages of seven to 17.

There is no incumbent for the 30th Senate District. VPAP labels the district as competitive. Robert Ruffolo is the GOP challenger in the June 20, 2023, Primary Election. Find your polling place.

Democrat Danica Roem, representing western Prince William County in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2018, also seeks the seat during the November 7, 2023 General Election.

I interviewed Woolf about his race. You can see the entire interview video here.

Where do you stand on the proliferation of data centers in Northern Virginia? The server farms have been praised for the additional cash they bring for county schools, roads, public safety, and other services. In contrast, others have panned them, saying they are bad for the region’s water supply and take up the last remaining rural land in Northern Virginia.

“I’m all about sustainable growth…I think that we do need a healthy balance between residential and commercial. I’m certainly in favor of efforts that will ultimately reduce personal property taxes and income taxes for individuals in the area. But I think that we need to have growth be very sustainable. I think that we should balance where the data centers are placed and make sure that we create those opportunities. …nobody wants to look out their back window and see a data center like the one going up over in Haymarket right now on Route 55. But I think that we also have to consider is we’ve been out knocking doors.”

During the 2023 General Assembly, we saw Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson and Delegate Danica Roem push legislation to require studies of water and environmental studies before a data center project may advance. We saw pushback from the governor and his cabinet, which has been very clear, it wants more data centers in Virginia. The Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and his administration lined up with the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, largely Democrats, who were working together to bring more data centers into Prince William County. If you’re elected to the Senate, would you support requiring these environmental studies to be done before a data center project is considered in your district?

“I think when we talk about solutions, they have to be common sense solutions that actually do something. I know Delegate Rome has spoken very passionately about the data centers. But I would ask Delegate Roem, why has she not talked to her Democratic colleagues on the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County and gotten them to see her point of view on this? I think that leaders in Richmond need to be working with their local governments to make sure that those views are reflected and that it needs to be a team effort.

“I do think we need to look at the data, and I do think we need to understand what’s happening. I’d want to look at what research has already been done. I suspect that the state already has some research, and I don’t want to be duplicative. There’s no need to waste taxpayer dollars to do research that’s already been done. But if we don’t have the answers, then absolutely we need to find them.”

Governor Youngkin has made efforts to fund lab schools and says he supports more charter schools as a means to improve education. Where do you stand on school choice?

“One of the big pieces of Governor Youngin’s agenda is to get Virginians into gainful employment. And I think that there are many different avenues to do that, whether that’s a university, whether that’s lab schools, trade schools. And I support him wholeheartedly in creating educational choices for young people.”

“But I think that also includes the ability to choose what type of education you want. As I mentioned, my oldest son just graduated from public high school. It was a fantastic experience for him. Very proud that battlefield high school is one of the top 30 high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and he receives an amazing education.”

“However, our other kids are being homeschooled, and that’s been an extremely rewarding and enriching experience for them and for our family. We have seen them. We still have them take standardized testing. We’ve seen them consistently test at least two grade levels above where they’re supposed to be. So I think there are different options for different people, and we need to make sure that families all across Virginia, but particularly here in District 30, have the ability to choose what’s right for their family and for their children.”

Violent crime in Prince William County is up 70% since 2019. If elected, what will you do to ensure that the law enforcement officers who want to serve can do so in Prince William County?

“As a former police officer myself and being the third generation, my father and my grandfather before me served in law enforcement, I know the real risks that these women and men put themselves into every day to keep our communities safe. And I think that in the wake of the defund the police movement, what we have seen is a lack of support from leadership and elected officials. And we cannot ask these individuals to go into the community and do this job without making sure that they have the resources that they need.”

“They have competitive pay that are coming out of Richmond to make sure that they can do the job that they do. During the last legislative session, there was a bill to reduce assault on a police officer from a felony to a misdemeanor. That shows the lack of respect that we have for our law enforcement officers within the streets. So if I go to Richmond, my pledge is to make sure that the laws are reflective of what the officers need to do the job to keep their communities safe. But I’d also look at other common-sense solutions. Our governor right now is trying to get a budget passed through the Senate that would put 2000 more police officers on the streets in the Commonwealth.”

“But that budget is being blocked by the Senate right now. And it just doesn’t make sense to me why, when we know that we need these officers, to your point, when we can’t fill those roles when there are efforts to be able to do that, why are Democrats blocking those efforts?

An earlier version of this story reported the incorrect Primary Election date.